Amazon has been notoriously and aggravatingly mum on releasing concrete sales figures for its Kindle series. Last tidbit we heard was that it was the most gifted item in the retail company’s history. Or maybe there was some indication by AT&T’s note today that 1 million non-phones have been activated, which at this point includes newer Kindles, Nooks, and Sony Readers. At any rate, CEO Jeff Bezos let out the tiniest smidgen of Kindle’s sales today in its fiscal report, saying that “millions of people now own Kindles.” If we’re lucky, next earnings call we’ll get to play a “higher or lower” guessing game. Maybe. ‘Millions of people’ now own Kindles, says Amazon in its most non-vague sales statement yet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:41:00 EST

In quite a few ways, Apple’s iPad and iBooks announcement today was a shot across the bow of Amazon’s Kindle . Sure, Apple played nice, even saying that Amazon has done a “great job of pioneering” the e-book space, but you can’t help but think that Apple thinks of itself as the evolution of the Kindle, not mere competition. Steve Jobs says that Apple is going to “stand on their shoulders,” and that doesn’t sound quite as benign as perhaps he meant it. So, how do the devices stack up, specifically as book consuming devices?

InstaPaper’s “read later” bookmarking service was already a pretty handy way to get any article or web page onto your Kindle , but it looks like the company’s now taken a considerable leap forward in usability with its latest update. Nothing’s changed in the way you actually get articles onto the Kindle (via wireless delivery or .mobi files), but once they’re loaded up you’ll now have a decidedly more Kindle-like experience. That includes being able to tap left or right between articles downloaded from a site and, perhaps most notably, you’ll also now get a convenient table of contents that can be accessed from any article by pressing the back button. Those using wireless delivery will also now see old InstaPaper files moved to the “Periodicals: Back Issues” folder as new ones come in, rather than see them fill up their home screen.

Ever wondered what an exact replica of the Kindle DX would look like? Well, if you were thinking that it would look like an exact replica of the Kindle DX, you’re a winner. You’re currently checking out the Boeye E900, a 9.7-inch reader hailing from Guangdong, China. Besides the obvious lack of branding here, we’re hard-pressed to spot another difference — though we do only have the one photo. Both sport WiFi, Bluetooth, and text-to-speech, plus apparently the exact same internals as the DX, including an 825 x 1200 resolution, 3G, 128MB built-in flash memory, and a microSD card slot.

Amazon may have recently announced it was beefing up the Kindle’s functionality for vision-impaired users, but it looks like that’s too little too late for three universities using Kindles as an alternative to textbooks, who have now agreed to shelve the e-readers until such enhancements are in place as part of a settlement with the Justice Department. Those universities include Pace, Case Western, and Reed College, who were all sued by two organizations representing the blind, which alleged that while the Kindle has a text-to-speech function, the menus do not, thereby making them impossible for blind students to use — another university testing the Kindle, Arizona State, has already reached a similar settlement. Assuming Amazon lives up to its promises, however, it looks like the Kindles could be put back to use as soon as this summer — and the universities in question will still be able to finish any pilot programs currently taking place this semester, just not expand their use. Justice Department settlement puts on-campus Kindle use on hold originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

While the Amazon Kindle’s text-to-speech functionality might seem like a gimmick for some, it’s anything but for blind, vision-impaired and dyslexic users. Unfortunately, the device’s accessibility so far hasn’t extended to the menus. That’s set to change next year, however, with Amazon promising to release an audible menuing system for navigating the unit look-free. Amazon’s also prepping a new “super size” font, that doubles the current largest font in height and width. It all sounds great, but it also seems like a subtle dig at Barnes & Noble, whose brand new Nook reader is skipping out on text-to-speech (for this generation, anyway). Barnes & Noble claims that it’s due to the sub-par experience on “other devices,” but for now that means the Kindle might just be most accessible dedicated e-reader around — at least once this new software rolls out, supposedly by summer 2010

We gadget nerds have to endure unspeakable atrocities in order to slake that early adoption jones: first-run gear shipped DOA , buggy pre-release software , and months of waiting after a product leaks only to be greeted by a jacked-up price premium at launch. So we feel your pain, original Kindle owners, after Amazon announced a major firmware update that brings native PDF support to the 6-inch Kindle 2 and DX readers with the promise of a staggering 85% increase in battery life to all Kindle 2 devices — if you haven’t already received it OTA, the 2.3 software update is now available for download and installation via USB tethering. At least owners of “some earlier versions of Kindle” (quote from the press release) will receive native PDF support whenever the 1st generation firmware update (currently at version 1.2) is released. It’s worth noting that Amazon’s PDF reader lacks a zoom function which makes many PDFs entirely unreadable on the device. Good thing Amazon’s store is chock full of easily zoomable books in a proprietary format then, huh? Kindle 2.3 software update available, generation 1 owners need not apply originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:05:00 EST

Don’t pretend you didn’t see this one coming — just days after Amazon confirmed that a Kindle application was indeed coming soonish for the PC , a company spokesperson has now stated that a Mac version is also in the works. With the explosion of e-reader competition, it’s no shock to see Amazon branching out in an effort to spread the Kindle name (and business model) to more areas. To quote the aforesaid spokesperson: ” Yes, we are working on a Kindle app for Mac. ” Unfortunately, no further details were provided, but you can bet that Bezos wants this one out as soon as humanly possible. [Via TUAW ] Filed under: Displays , Handhelds Amazon spokesperson affirms that Kindle app for Mac is being ‘worked on’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Amazon made a fairly big splash in announcing that the standard-issue Kindle would finally be available in an international edition , but it’s now also rather quietly confirmed that the larger Kindle DX will be soon become a bit of a globetrotter as well. Unfortunately, it’s also considerably more light on details this time around, although Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener does say that the international Kindle DX will come out “sometime next year,” and we can only presume that it’ll demand a similar premium to its smaller counterpart (which is $20 more expensive than the US-only version). Filed under: Handhelds Amazon confirms international Kindle DX is on the way too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

You didn’t have to read much of our recent Kindle DX review to get a handle on our opinions of the super-sized e-reader, but as you’ve likely gleaned from the headline, this one’s not about us. Instead, we’re asking you to chime in with your take on this here device during this week’s How Would You Change . Did you really gain anything from the larger screen? Have you found it useful in your line of work / education? Are you down on the keyboard?